Apparently Pitt gear is on sale for a Father’s day promotion. If you order stuff online, and add the promotion code “DAD” in the spot at checkout, you get 20% knocked off the total purchase. That isn’t half bad.
The deal runs until June 16.
May 25, 2007
Pitt baseball got about as much media coverage they’re going to get this week for making it into the Big East Tournament. Not only did they get the rare mention here, but the local papers, radio stations, and TV news also had their stories on the team. They excited me enough that I pulled up the live GameCast from the Big East website and checked on in every few minutes when they played against USF.
What a way to kill everything you had going for you. On Tuesday they managed to put six (six!) errors on the scoreboard and yet only one run — not a recipe for success. USF’s pitcher was unreal though.
USF senior right-hander Danny Otero worked a complete game and limited the Panthers to just three hits, while walking just one batter.
Going into Wednesday’s game I figured we could at least pick up one win at the tourney. I wasn’t nearly as quick to pull up the GameCast for this one though. Playing the worst seeded team in the tourney, UConn at #8, we managed to leave the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.
Connecticut lefty Mike Tarsi worked eight innings, struck out seven and allowed just two runs as he collected his sixth win of the season. Junior lefty Matt Karl came on in the ninth inning and recorded his team-best 11th save of the season. The Panthers loaded the bases in the top half of the ninth inning with no outs, but were not able to take the lead en route to being eliminated from the championship.
I’m willing to bet that these two pitchers just happened to have the games of their lives against Pitt. Either that, or the Panthers need a new hitting coach. Maybe someone to tell them how to work their gloves, too.
May 24, 2007
Still not much apparently happening with football recruiting that is making news. I believe the next dead period for contact with recruits is a week away.
Vaughn Carraway, a CB/WR prospect from the Reading, PA area has Michigan leading for his services, but Pitt is still a factor.
“Pittsburgh is up there too,” said Carraway, who is ranked by Scout.com as the No. 24 prospect on the East Hot 100 team. “They offered me about four weeks ago. I really like the coaches there and the campus is really cool. My cousin, Sam Bryant (safety), went there and he’s said it’s a really cool place to go. I went to their junior day and really liked everything, but I’m not sure if I’ll take an official visit yet.”
Carraway says he wants to make a decision before the start of his season. BC, Tennessee and WVU are also interested in him. Scout.com has him as a 4-star recruit and Pantherlair.com lists him as the 15th best player in Pennsylvania.
He’d be a nice get, but is not a pressing need since he seemed more interested in being a receiver. Heck, unless the players are linemen (O- and D-) or linebackers, my excitement for any prospect is muted.
Rivals.com is spreading out the release of its 5-star rankings and will culminate with its top-100 list after Memorial Day. They’ve released 20-14 and 27-21. So far, only one player is from Pennsylvania: Offensive Tackle Lucas Nix, the brother of Pitt redshirt freshman Nate Nix.
May 23, 2007
By now you’ve heard that Joe Paterno has decided on a punishment for his football team after some inexcusable behavior: have the entire team clean the stadium after a game day and give all of the money earned to the club teams which use such income to fund their sports. Sounds pretty good, right?
No doubt Paterno is a smart man, at least in some sense. Not smart enough for a few people to see right through his punishment though.
If you peel back the warm and fuzzy blanket, it’s as much a preemptive strike at the University’s Office of Judicial Affairs as it is corporal punishment for the players.
Consider the timing of the announcement. It comes before the Judicial Affairs folks begin their hearings into the incident.
In the pecking order of justice, the legal system is first, then Judicial Affairs and finally, Paterno’s court.
It is also a calculated move to undercut the Judicial Affairs office by taking matters into his own hands and meting out his own punishment. That will make anything Judicial Affairs decides to do look like overkill and further advance the perception that Judicial Affairs has some vendetta against the football team.
Yes, Joe Paterno is smart, but Ron Bracken is just a step ahead.
Reports are that Roy Hibbert will announce this afternoon that he is returning to Georgetown for another season (and possibly Jeff Green as well). If Hibbert returns, the Hoyas will be the strong favorites to win the Big East in 2008 (and if Green returns as well, they will be favored to win the whole thing).
Obviously, this is not great news for Pitt and the other teams in the Big East that would face Georgetown.
For Aaron Gray and every other center in the NBA draft not named Greg Oden, this is very good news. Spencer Hawes (from Washington) becomes the clear #2 Center in the draft.
Aaron Gray suddenly gets vaulted back into the discussion as being among the 3d best center prospects in the draft. His competition are a couple Euro players (Marc Gasol [Spain, and yes, Pau Gasol’s little brother] and Ante Tomic [Croatia]), the troubled Sean Williams — who managed to actually be kicked off the team for good by Al Skinner at BC — and the injury prone DeVon Hardin of Cal.
Yep, if Hibbert stays at Georgetown, Aaron Gray should send him a thank you card.
I’m not sure if this is good or bad, but Dick Vitale likes the hire of Tom Herrion as a Pitt assistant.
Herrion is a perfect hire as the Panthers assistant coach.
Look at what Florida has done winning two national titles. Billy Donovan has done a phenomenal job recruiting, motivating and inspiring his team. Why am I talking about the Gators? Donovan brought in Larry Shyatt as an assistant coach and it made a big difference.
Shyatt was a solid head coach at Wyoming and Clemson, and he has been an asset for the Gators. More and more former head coaches are popping up as assistants because they can’t get back to the same high-level positions. Let me tell you, these guys have a chip on their shoulder an attitude as they want to prove that people made mistakes. They work so hard to move back up.
It is a good hire when a smart man brings in a former head coach to be a second lieutenant. These guys are competitive, goal-oriented winners. They will work 24-7 to get the job done.
Of course, Vitale likes just about everybody — especially anyone who has ever been a head coach.
ESPN hands out grades on the basketball recruiting for the Big East:
- Syracuse — A
- Villanova — A
- Georgetown — B+
- Pitt — B+
- Cinci — B+
- Seton Hall — B+
- Marquette — B
- St. John’s — B
- Rutgers — B-
- Louisville — B-
- Notre Dame — B-
- WVU — B-
- DePaul — C
- USF — C
- Providence — C
- UConn — D
Here were the comments on Pitt:
With six signees, Pitt landed a well-balanced class. DeJuan Blair (Pittsburgh, Pa./Schenley), a 6-7 center, is tough and has a wide body. In addition to Blair, the Panthers added Bradley Wanamaker (Philadelphia/Roman Catholic), a quick scoring guard who will give coach Jamie Dixon a good inside-outside punch.
Nothing particularly different from prior stories, but it’s all that is out there right now.
May 22, 2007
Today kicks off the 2007 Big East Baseball Tournament at Keyspan Park in Brooklyn, NY. It will begin with an eight team double-elimination bracket and ends with the conference champion and a few other teams getting bids into the 64 team national tournament. The seedings fell into place like this:
1. St. John’s
2. Rutgers
3. Louisville
4. Pitt
5. USF
6. Villanova
7. Notre Dame
8. UConn
Pitt and South Florida play in the 4-5 matchup at 5:00 PM today and all of the results can be found here. I do not follow Pitt baseball closely but every week or so I try to remember to check the website and see how they’re doing; still haven’t found time to make the 20 minute drive to Trees Field and see them play though. Usually they play Duquesne at PNC Park — and yet they decide to throw it on a Wednesday afternoon.
A 27-25 (15-11 in conference) record was good enough to get them a 4th seed when they were projected to be around 9th (and out of the conference tourney) back at the beginning of the season.
That the Panthers even reached the Big East tourney makes this season a success story. They lost their first eight games of the season, including games to top-ranked Vanderbilt and top-20 Coastal Carolina, but recovered to win their next six before beginning conference play.
The team doesn’t really have it easy at all.
They receive only 8.5 scholarships a year, three-plus below the NCAA maximum (11.7), to fill out their roster.
That means Jordano splits scholarships into percentages, with some players receiving half tuition and others covering the cost of books. It’s not much, but sometimes enough to entice a talented player to walk on.
That announcement of the new baseball field and training complex should make it a little easier to lure potential recruits.
Now, the school is focusing on long overdue facilities for its “Olympic†sports of baseball, softball, soccer and track and field.
“We love playing here,†Jordano said of Trees Field, “but when you get the opportunity to get something brand-new and state-of-the-art, it’s nice.â€
As long as they don’t make the players go swimming in Trees Pool. I spent my entire weekend in that pool (long story) and probably developed hypothermia — great isn’t it?
May 21, 2007
This nugget from Andy Katz at ESPN.com (Insider subs.) is very exciting.
Pitt is trying to rework some scheduling conflicts so it can play Duke in Madison Square Garden in December.
Oooohhh.
UPDATE (3:42): One of the games that Pitt might be trying to reschedule might be the December 15 home game against Oklahoma State.
The Cowboys’ return game from last year’s All-College Classic against Pitt is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 15 at the Petersen Events Center. That location — the Panthers’ home court — might be a tough one for OSU fans to swallow since it has previously been a neutral-neutral series (like last year’s game against Tennessee in Nashville). But head coach Sean Sutton said he’s happy with the deal because of a guarantee that Pitt will play in Stillwater sometime in the future.
I forgot about the OK State game as well. That would mean road games at Dayton and Washington, a home game with OK State and a neutral court with Duke. The Big East will be an 18 game schedule next year. Even with all patsies for the rest of the non-con (about 8 more games), that’s a hell of a good schedule.
Pitt Athletic Director Jeff Long is closing on a contract extension for an additional 3-years. I feel astoundingly indifferent about this, but ultimately feel that it is best that Long is staying.
I have been critical of AD Long when it comes to issues of media rights and what appears a stubbornness or lack of vision about the future of Pitt athletics with that regard and the future of the Big East. At times, it very much seems that he is merely the frontman for Chancellor Nordenberg. So, I do have major concerns about some long term issues.
By the same token, Long has done much good. His disliked — but unfortunately necessary — fundraising tactics have been vital to improve the athletic facilities for the “other” sports. A problem that had not been addressed dating back for decades. Even the oft-revered Steve Pederson did not do much to address that issue.
Long was not responsible for the hiring of Coach Jamie Dixon, but he was the one to work out the contract extension and raise that kept him here.
The hire that will define Long’s success or failure, really is the Dave Wannstedt hiring. Wannstedt was the guy the entire Pitt administration wanted and to Long’s credit, he did land him. Now, it’s up to Wannstedt to prove it was the right call. The assistants are being paid. The facilities are in place. The excuses just aren’t there.
The other factor is that for Pitt’s athletic department and the individual programs to thrive, stability at the AD position is vital. In this otherwise, highly puffed piece on WVU AD Ed Pastilong are some nuggets of truth. Pastilong has been there for 18 years and has overseen some big changes to WVU. Transitioning from two long-tenured coaches in basketball and football and improving the overall facilities with an even tighter budget. Pastilong is the longest tenured AD in the Big East and the little sidebar list of longest tenured ADs lists schools with at least one major programs that have had great success (Mississippi State being the exception).
In that respect, I think it is important that Long continue and provide stability.
May 20, 2007
Strange recruiting period. You have football players all over the country committing to programs, or who have committed. Pitt so, far in the May period hasn’t had a one. What’s more, unlike the prior two years, there has been little word in papers about where Coach Wannstedt is in his recruiting travels.
They are probably unrelated — well, I hope so. The lack of news stories of Wannstedt stopping at a particular HS or area is more to do with the lack of newsworthiness at this point. It’s no longer a new and novel thing, he’s no longer the former NFL-Coach, but just another college coach who hasn’t won anything or been to a bowl game. Damn, that hurts to type.
As for the lack of commits, I’m hoping it’s because many of the players Pitt is pursuing have yet to commit. That does seem to be the case with many of them.
Terrelle Pryor doesn’t seem to be in any rush to make a decision. He and the school seem to be enjoying the attention.
Shayne Hale a top LB out of Gateway in Monroeville is even more explicit that he won’t be deciding much beyond his top-5 by the end of the summer.
“About my official visits, I haven’t thought about a top five, but I’ll get to that sometime this summer,” Hale said. “I’ll probably narrow my choices a little before the season and probably a lot more after it, but I definitely won’t make a final decision until after the season.
The good news is that Pitt is still included in the mix.
Worth noting that Tino Sunseri, the son of former Pitt All-American LB and interim head coach, has committed to Louisville. Tino is a QB, and with Pitt getting Bostick last season, I don’t even think Pitt or the Sunseris seriously considered a match.
May 18, 2007
Over at AOL, I wrote about Penn State’s 5-year legal battle with the Harrisburg Patriot-News over the disclosure of how much Joe Paterno makes.
Quick recap: It seems Pennsylvania’s open-records law does not apply to state related schools like Penn State, Pitt and Temple. The law might get changed this year, but in the mean time the newspaper did an end-around by requesting Joe Paterno’s records from the state pension agency — which is subject to the open-records law. Paterno says he doesn’t care, but Penn State does. Penn State went to court to block this. It is now in the state supreme court.
It seems to me like this should be a slam dunk for the newspaper. Of course, this is the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court, and nothing is guaranteed. One of the justices had to recuse herself from hearing or voting on the case because she is also a Penn State Trustee.
Predicting the PA Supreme Court is always a big question mark. [digression] Pennsylvania has long had one of the least transparent government, in part because of the court. In 1998, the court struck down a basic lobbying disclosure act because they ruled that many of the lobbyists were also practicing lawyers and the PA Supreme Court has the only authority to regulate the practice of law. A new law was passed in 2006, but if this sort of attitude from the Philadelphia Bar is any indication, I expect it to go back to the PA Supreme Court — even if it says that the PA Supreme Court is going along with it this time. [/digression]
The State Senate Majority Leader has introduced legislation that would amend the open-records law to include state-related universities. It has a pretty good chance of passing, so the whole lawsuit eventually might mean nothing.
Pitt, while not required to, has been more responsive on the disclosure of salaries front.
The health sciences chief, the football and basketball coach and two other administrators including Chancellor Mark Nordenberg were top earners at the University of Pittsburgh last year, according to a federal tax filing.
…
Second-highest was head football coach Dave Wannstedt, whose compensation of $713,138 included $675,002 in salary, $28,959 toward benefits and $9,177 for expenses and allowances.
The third-biggest earner was men’s head basketball coach Jamie Dixon, whose total earnings of $676,712 included $622,753 in salary, $38,276 toward benefits and $15,683 for expenses and allowances.
The filing, required of non-profits each year, includes pay earned by officers and non-officers of the university for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2006. It was released yesterday by the university in response to a request from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
This, of course, does not include Dixon and Wannstedt’s radio/TV appearance fees or the money they make from their camps. If the open-records law is passed, that information will also become known.
May 17, 2007
Talk about your blasts from the pasts. Luke Winn at SI.com was writing about Patrick Patterson finally choosing Kentucky and how recruiting (and rankings) is as much about hope as anything else. Then he lists the top-10 recruiting classes from 2003 according to Rivals.com, as evidence that a top recruiting class means nothing:
9. Pittsburgh
Key recruits: Chris Taft, Aaron Gray, Walter Waters, Dante Milligan
A decent class, in that it produced two quality Big East big men (even if Taft was underwhelming at times) and three 25-win seasons … but the Panthers never made it past the Sweet 16.
This, of course was technically Ben Howland’s final recruiting class. Milligan transferred to UMass and is their 6th man. Walters never even came to Pitt (or academically qualified), and was released in August. His scholarship was given to Antonio Graves by Coach Dixon in August. Walters couldn’t even handle the academic workload at Cleveland State before disappearing. Aaron Gray was not a major recruit as Pitt battled Rutgers for his services. Taft was the only major recruit and his positive impact was his freshman year. His sophomore season, well…
Hard to imagine that was a top-ten recruiting class. Of course, looking over the rest of the top-10 they list, I almost believe it to be a joke. FSU? Oklahoma? Maryland? That was the top-3? Looking at the other classes, well, it’s astounding.
So, um, in light of that ESPN.com (Insider subs) has Pitt listed with the 20th best recruiting class for 2007 after the late signing period.
Coach Jamie Dixon had no spring signees, but his deep fall recruiting class made the top 20.
USC, Syracuse, Florida make the top-3. DePaul is #10 and Cinci is #14 according to this list.
ESPN.com rotates through the conferences on a 1- to 2-week period. Ultimately, a lot of it is rehashing the same stuff but by different writers or putting it in convenient list or capsule format. Most of the attention in the latest gimmick “Three things I can’t wait to see this fall…” hits the Big East. Most of the attention is on WVU, Louisville and Rutgers. You know, teams that were ranked at the end of last season. Oh, but Mark Schlabach does get to Pitt with the obvious.
Syracuse’s Greg Robinson and Pittsburgh’s Dave Wannstedt, two former NFL coaches, need to turn their teams around quickly. Robinson is 5-18 in two seasons at Syracuse and the natives are restless. Wannstedt hasn’t taken his alma mater to a bowl game yet, with an 11-12 record in two seasons. Both teams must replace their starting quarterbacks. Wannstedt has recruited exceptionally well at Pittsburgh, but it’s time for that talent to translate into victories.
That would be nice, but I almost feel conditioned to add to the end of that “… in 2008.”
In the capsule recaps of the past recaps of spring, I’ll summarize Pitt’s. Receiving corp — good; Nate Byham — awesome; d-line — looked good; O-line — has experience, needs center; secondary — not bad; starting QB — who knows for sure; running game — unknown; linebackers — oh, boy; punter Dave Brytus — used to be good at Purdue; freshmen playing time — might be a good idea.
I’ve always been mildly intrigued by fan-created websites that call for the firing of a coach. It started with sites like FireRonZook.com which gained all kinds of attention from media outlets including SportsCenter and Pardon the Interruption. Zook ended up getting fired from Florida and the idea was put into every fan’s mind that they could oust a coach by buying a domain name and putting up a website. There’s even a “company” out there that sells some of these domain names.
There is, in fact, a FireDaveWannstedt.com — in operation since his days as head coach of the Miami Dolphins.
OK Pitt’sters— ya gotta agree with me that this year is kind of a little tiny watershed year for your boy Dave. All I heard the year before is how Pitt had one of the greatest recruiting years in the history of the planet. oooooK. Well–as someone once said— “It’s the Coach Stupid!”
As always—I wish you guys the best of luck…I’m sincere in that because I feel that were kind of brothers—much the way Bears fans are Brothers with us Phin fans. Sitting with a Bear fan in a bar is a hoot because boy oh boy we have something in common. I suspect that someday I’ll be throwing back a few with some Pitt fans and I’m pretty sure we’ll be ranting in harmony. Wouldn’t be a riot if a Bears fan joined us?
If you think you’ve had enough of Wanny and want to turn in into a protest of his time here at Pitt, feel free to buy it. Only $1,000.
There is no “Fire Jamie Dixon” website out there except this petition (that looks like it’s from a few years ago) that was signed by all of 51 people. If someone were to make a Dixon-based site, they’d have to be pretty crazy. You don’t call for a coach’s head over the internet when he’s put up this kind of record. You can say he’s not coaching at the level we want him to but he’s definitely not reached his coaching potential yet. In 10 years if we still haven’t made it past the Sweet Sixteen then we can start talking about said website.
As far as I know, there’s somehow not a “Fire Paul Rhoads” page out there and yet more people seem to be against him than any other coach on either the football or basketball staffs. FirePaulRhoads.com is still availible — I know there’s someone out there who wants to buy it.
One thing that the Pitt Athletic Department has yet to do it take a page from Iowa and buy the domain name to fire one of their own coaches. Not a bad idea to help spare your coaches a little.
May 16, 2007
Panther Rants was formerly Dokish’s recruiting blog but it’s been taken over by guys with a bit of a more sarcastic style. In an “interview” with new RMU head coach Mike Rice, they were able to humorously recap the past basketball season.
PR: Alright enough of that. Do you think the team lived up to its expectations before the season?
MR: Well we got to the Sweet Sixteen didn’t we? What else were you expecting?
PR: Well Uh…
MR: Do the math, pal. We finished tied second in the Big East, runners up in the Big East Tournament, a pre-season Top Ten, favorites to win the conference, and expected to go Sweet 16 or better. We got the Top Ten finish and the Sweet 16. We also won 29 games. We did all this with a 7 foot center that has a hard time dunking, and can’t stop fumbling his cars keys or missing the trash can when he throws away his bottle of Gatorade. We did it with a three point specialist who can only hit threes when he’s not covered. We did it with our best athlete who also scored points, but was a turnover machine. Finally, we did it with a player named Levon with a Vanilla Ice haircut. I’d do the same if my parents named me that. Who in the hell names their kid Levon anyway?
There’s also a rather funny Keith Benjamin joke in there — read it.
